"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye.."

Staff Writer

With the vast amount of material that gets released every Wednesday, it becomes very easy (and also extremely prudent) to understand that some material will not be in line with your tastes. Of course, that doesn’t make said material inheritably bad because you have to account for things like genre tastes, character, writer and artist involvement before you get to more intricate issues a person may have with work. However, there are some pieces of work that not only fall into this category, but also happen to be pretty bad from where you sit. So bad, that no amount of good present can serve as enough of a redeeming force to ignore the bad parts, something that is ever present in Avengers # 19. Despite that declaration, the burning question of whether this book possesses any redeeming qualities still remains. As for the answer to that question, all will be revealed below you.

Story

As I was reading this comic, one of the things I can’t deny is that Bendis has definitely given himself quite the interesting set-up. With “Fear Itself” mercifully behind us, it would only be logical that the next biggest threat to deal with would be Norman Osborn (the man that abused his power to attack Asgard), who escaped from Prison under mysterious circumstances to the characters present in that issue. Even though this does run the chance of being redundant if wrongly executed, it is nice to see him being treated like the Alpha Class threat that he really is, which makes the ending all the better, because while I didn’t like Osborn coming back from the dead (honestly you could’ve created a new character who could’ve had the same impact as Norman ) his impact over recent events was far too great for him to go back to solely chasing Spider-Man on the rooftops. Unfortunately, the strong foundation is not built upon in the written on visual storytelling.

Writing

For anyone that’s been around the scene long enough, one of the biggest criticisms people have about Bendis’ writing is the dialogue that tries to sound hip and edgy, but only makes characters sound like a gaggle of fools, and boy is this trait ever present here. By far the biggest offender of this is Jessica Drew, whose dialogue in this comic consists almost solely on bitching about Quake (Daisy Johnson) from her age, to her status in the new S.H.I.E.L.D. (which Bendis has Hawkeye respond to in a flirtatious manner that made me cringe) to her appointment on the Avengers. While people will say that Bendis making a character sound annoying is par for the course, the big difference between say Captain America acting like a pious hypocrite and Jessica Drew sounding needlessly bitchy is that Bendis isn’t the only voice for Captain America in any given month, due to Brubaker writing the former’s book. However, when it comes to the latter, Bendis has pretty much been soley responsible for her characterization for more than 6 years, and from my point of view, he has failed greatly in making her a compelling character instead of someone who takes up a spot because she was there in said writer’s childhood, making Jessica Drew one of Benids’ greatest missed opportunities.

Speaking of missed opportunities, at its core this issue is the latest in the always fun “Who will be the Avengers” formula that was made famous with the first Avengers #16 more than 45 years ago. If nothing else, these issues are always fun because at its best you get to see defining character moments ranging from opportunities to make things right (Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye in that same issue) to lifelong dreams coming true (Justice’s sheer joy from Avengers ’98 #4 is something I’ll never forget), and while this issue had the chance for its own great moments, those chances are never seized. Not only does this issue see a long requested hero join this legendary team in Storm, but it also sees the return of the Silver Age Vision after a near 7 year absence. While some may not share my concern about how these two moments never get time to breathe, due to how the script was written (the reactions from Spider Man and Wolverine felt wasted on quips that killed her dramatic entrance), the biggest problem I had with this part of the story is how Vision came back. Not only does it contradict the situation of Tony being broke in “The Invincible Iron Man” (along with being a complete surprise that would’ve been better served to have been teased to in that comic), but it cheapens the return of a character that deserved a better one. Of course, some might say that these moments should be judged on their, but with the way they bleed into each other dialogue wise robbed the reader of the impact that those moments should’ve gotten and that could define why I think Bendis ultimately dropped the ball here.

Art

While I can give Bendis credit for the setup for this arc , I cannot be as forthcoming with praise for the overall art job. Beyond the battle sequence with T’Challa, Captain America taking on a Sentinel and Storms full page “in flight” drawing, there’s just far too much here that doesn’t work and it all starts with the artist himself. From the minute I opened this book, I had to make sure I kept telling myself that art on its most surface level is extremely objective and what looks inefficient to you, may be a masterpiece to someone else, but as I kept taking in the story being told, the technical problems came to the forefront. For starters, the character expressions betray the spoken parts of the story at critical moments, making events that should be shocking matter all the much less, something that is especially apparent with the Vision’s return. To make things worse, the colorist didn’t do any favors for Acuna’s art, as the colors constantly bleed into each other, distorting virtually every single image that this book produces and committing the worst offense of them all, and that’s impeding on storytelling. When its all said and done, a much better job could’ve been done and it wasn’t.

Other musings and the final 22 cents

Before I finish off this review, let me completely honest and say that Avengers #19 already had a target on it, due to the preview pages that were released the Friday before last. Not only did those pages confirm my worst fears about T’Challa not joining the Avengers, but it also seems apparent that no one bother to clue the creative staff in on his weapon use (I’ve never seen T’Challa use Blily Clubs not once in his series). When I originally was going to write this review, I was going to use a bunch of the space to rant about how Marvel has not delivered on the promise of making said character a bigger player in the Marvel Universe(which I’ll still do in a later review), but after taking some time to think about it, I realized that would’ve been dishonest and unfair and that I should not let agendas get in the way unless they’re fully justified.

Of course, said restraint is made easier when more pertinent issues are present that impede on this book’s quality, mostly personal issues don’t equal into the equation. Without T’Challa joining the Avengers, this issue was plagued with execution issues from the script to the art (in both asthethic and storytelling aspects) that those issues are the least of its problems. It’s almost like Marvel didn’t even try to make this the best comic it could possibly be and that’s the biggest sin of them all.

Staff Writer

With the vast amount of material that gets released every Wednesday, it becomes very easy (and also extremely prudent) to understand that some material will not be in line with your tastes. Of course, that doesn’t make said material inheritably bad because you have to account for things like genre tastes, character, writer and artist involvement before you get to more intricate issues a person may have with work. However, there are some pieces of work that not only fall into this category, but also happen to be pretty bad from where you sit. So bad, that no amount of good present can serve as enough of a redeeming force to ignore the bad parts, something that is ever present in Avengers # 19. Despite that declaration, the burning question of whether this book possesses any redeeming qualities still remains. As for the answer to that question, all will be revealed below you.

Story

As I was reading this comic, one of the things I can’t deny is that Bendis has definitely given himself quite the interesting set-up. With “Fear Itself” mercifully behind us, it would only be logical that the next biggest threat to deal with would be Norman Osborn (the man that abused his power to attack Asgard), who escaped from Prison under mysterious circumstances to the characters present in that issue. Even though this does run the chance of being redundant if wrongly executed, it is nice to see him being treated like the Alpha Class threat that he really is, which makes the ending all the better, because while I didn’t like Osborn coming back from the dead (honestly you could’ve created a new character who could’ve had the same impact as Norman ) his impact over recent events was far too great for him to go back to solely chasing Spider-Man on the rooftops. Unfortunately, the strong foundation is not built upon in the written on visual storytelling.

Writing

For anyone that’s been around the scene long enough, one of the biggest criticisms people have about Bendis’ writing is the dialogue that tries to sound hip and edgy, but only makes characters sound like a gaggle of fools, and boy is this trait ever present here. By far the biggest offender of this is Jessica Drew, whose dialogue in this comic consists almost solely on bitching about Quake (Daisy Johnson) from her age, to her status in the new S.H.I.E.L.D. (which Bendis has Hawkeye respond to in a flirtatious manner that made me cringe) to her appointment on the Avengers. While people will say that Bendis making a character sound annoying is par for the course, the big difference between say Captain America acting like a pious hypocrite and Jessica Drew sounding needlessly bitchy is that Bendis isn’t the only voice for Captain America in any given month, due to Brubaker writing the former’s book. However, when it comes to the latter, Bendis has pretty much been soley responsible for her characterization for more than 6 years, and from my point of view, he has failed greatly in making her a compelling character instead of someone who takes up a spot because she was there in said writer’s childhood, making Jessica Drew one of Benids’ greatest missed opportunities.

Speaking of missed opportunities, at its core this issue is the latest in the always fun “Who will be the Avengers” formula that was made famous with the first Avengers #16 more than 45 years ago. If nothing else, these issues are always fun because at its best you get to see defining character moments ranging from opportunities to make things right (Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye in that same issue) to lifelong dreams coming true (Justice’s sheer joy from Avengers ’98 #4 is something I’ll never forget), and while this issue had the chance for its own great moments, those chances are never seized. Not only does this issue see a long requested hero join this legendary team in Storm, but it also sees the return of the Silver Age Vision after a near 7 year absence. While some may not share my concern about how these two moments never get time to breathe, due to how the script was written (the reactions from Spider Man and Wolverine felt wasted on quips that killed her dramatic entrance), the biggest problem I had with this part of the story is how Vision came back. Not only does it contradict the situation of Tony being broke in “The Invincible Iron Man” (along with being a complete surprise that would’ve been better served to have been teased to in that comic), but it cheapens the return of a character that deserved a better one. Of course, some might say that these moments should be judged on their, but with the way they bleed into each other dialogue wise robbed the reader of the impact that those moments should’ve gotten and that could define why I think Bendis ultimately dropped the ball here.

Art

While I can give Bendis credit for the setup for this arc , I cannot be as forthcoming with praise for the overall art job. Beyond the battle sequence with T’Challa, Captain America taking on a Sentinel and Storms full page “in flight” drawing, there’s just far too much here that doesn’t work and it all starts with the artist himself. From the minute I opened this book, I had to make sure I kept telling myself that art on its most surface level is extremely objective and what looks inefficient to you, may be a masterpiece to someone else, but as I kept taking in the story being told, the technical problems came to the forefront. For starters, the character expressions betray the spoken parts of the story at critical moments, making events that should be shocking matter all the much less, something that is especially apparent with the Vision’s return. To make things worse, the colorist didn’t do any favors for Acuna’s art, as the colors constantly bleed into each other, distorting virtually every single image that this book produces and committing the worst offense of them all, and that’s impeding on storytelling. When its all said and done, a much better job could’ve been done and it wasn’t.

Other musings and the final 22 cents

Before I finish off this review, let me completely honest and say that Avengers #19 already had a target on it, due to the preview pages that were released the Friday before last. Not only did those pages confirm my worst fears about T’Challa not joining the Avengers, but it also seems apparent that no one bother to clue the creative staff in on his weapon use (I’ve never seen T’Challa use Blily Clubs not once in his series). When I originally was going to write this review, I was going to use a bunch of the space to rant about how Marvel has not delivered on the promise of making said character a bigger player in the Marvel Universe(which I’ll still do in a later review), but after taking some time to think about it, I realized that would’ve been dishonest and unfair and that I should not let agendas get in the way unless they’re fully justified.

Of course, said restraint is made easier when more pertinent issues are present that impede on this book’s quality, mostly personal issues don’t equal into the equation. Without T’Challa joining the Avengers, this issue was plagued with execution issues from the script to the art (in both asthethic and storytelling aspects) that those issues are the least of its problems. It’s almost like Marvel didn’t even try to make this the best comic it could possibly be and that’s the biggest sin of them all.

Outhouse Editor

StoryThis issue continues a disturbing trend for me when it comes to Bendis' writing the past few months. I find it extremely boring. More talking heads and another new formation of the team. I almost feel like we get this same issue every couple months. I also found the return of The Vision to be lazy storytelling. Stark has been secretly working on him and when it suits the story's needs The Vision is miraculously fixed. In addition, I did not like the addition to Storm on the team. She hasn't been an interesting character in a long time. Not even in any of the X-Men books and I don't see it changing here especially with how causally her introduction was handled. The only interesting thing here is the set up for the upcoming battle with Norman Osbourn and H.A.M.M.E.R. I just hope that when the battle finally happens it's more action than talking. If not, I really don't see myself continuing to buy this especially at $4.

ArtNot much to say here except I've never liked Acuna's art and there wasn't anything here to change my opinion of it. I find it to be bland with the appearance of a smeared mess.

Outhouse Editor

StoryThis issue continues a disturbing trend for me when it comes to Bendis' writing the past few months. I find it extremely boring. More talking heads and another new formation of the team. I almost feel like we get this same issue every couple months. I also found the return of The Vision to be lazy storytelling. Stark has been secretly working on him and when it suits the story's needs The Vision is miraculously fixed. In addition, I did not like the addition to Storm on the team. She hasn't been an interesting character in a long time. Not even in any of the X-Men books and I don't see it changing here especially with how causally her introduction was handled. The only interesting thing here is the set up for the upcoming battle with Norman Osbourn and H.A.M.M.E.R. I just hope that when the battle finally happens it's more action than talking. If not, I really don't see myself continuing to buy this especially at $4.

ArtNot much to say here except I've never liked Acuna's art and there wasn't anything here to change my opinion of it. I find it to be bland with the appearance of a smeared mess.

2k11 Outhouse People's Champion

At first it was a bit confusing as I didn't know if this would be like the Avengers/New Avengers setup, having two titles at once. Things started out promisingly as right on page one there was a competent review of the title.

However things slowly spun out of control as the old tropes that dominated Review Group started to show its ugly head. Things steered back on page 3 but by the time it hit page 9, it became near unreadable. The biggest flaw being the total mischaracterization of Stephen Day. I mean "FUCK"? Come on, he would never talk that way.

So it was a pretty mixed bag for this first issue. I'd say I'd be back for issue #2, but (1) it's a review for Infinite and (2) I'll probably be asked not to return like in the original review group.

At first it was a bit confusing as I didn't know if this would be like the Avengers/New Avengers setup, having two titles at once. Things started out promisingly as right on page one there was a competent review of the title.

However things slowly spun out of control as the old tropes that dominated Review Group started to show its ugly head. Things steered back on page 3 but by the time it hit page 9, it became near unreadable. The biggest flaw being the total mischaracterization of Stephen Day. I mean "FUCK"? Come on, he would never talk that way.

So it was a pretty mixed bag for this first issue. I'd say I'd be back for issue #2, but (1) it's a review for Infinite and (2) I'll probably be asked not to return like in the original review group.

Staff Writer

Story - One of the staples of the Avengers throughout it's 500+ issue history is the 'old order changeth' stories, wherein an old line-up leaves, and Captain America (sometimes it's Iron Man or somebody else, but most of the time it's Cap) forms a new team. Avengers #19 is one of those stories, and it delivers what it sets out to, but with a few interesting twists.

This issue is of course written by Brian Michael Bendis, and at this point, when the man has been writing Avengers titles of varying titles for like 8 years or so, we all already know where we stand on him and his take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I love it, so I enjoyed this issue like I do almost all of his others, the dialogue was strong, and the character's believable. I also liked how Bendis is referring to a running sub-theme of his Avengers stories, that perhaps the Avengers aren't all that beneficial to the world, and there's a growing number of people in the general public of the Marvel Universe, and the way Bendis depicts the media in this issue shows that, as does the last-page appearance of a certain Spider-Man villain.

This issue is mainly a series of vignettes as Cap recruits his new team-members, and it all flows as you'd expect, apart from the surprise that Black Panther, who's on the cover of this very issue, chooses not to join the team, and instead, his wife Storm does. I'm a little conflicted about this, as although I'm not a big fan of Storm as a character, I have a soft-spot for husband and wife members of super-teams. Giant-Man and Wasp, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, Black Canary and Green Arrow, even Ralph and Sue Dibny, so I was annoyed that we wouldn't be getting a regular dose of wedded Wakandan bliss. But it is cool that Bendis chose to add a character who's never been an Avenger before, instead of a relative mainstay like Black Panther. It will also be interesting to see how Storm works with Wolverine. They are on opposite sides of the ideological split amongst the X-Men, but can they put aside their differences as Avengers?

The other team member who joins is The Vision, and I'm talking old-school Vision. I'm a big fan of Vizh, so I'm glad to have him back, but it does raise questions about the status of the Vision who's a member of the Young Avengers. I guess he'll probably die in the remaining issues of Children's Crusade, but you never know.

So the new Avengers line-up is formed, and the meet the media, well, not just the media, but also Norman Osborn, who shows up in the last panel to challenge the Avengers and set up the crossover between this title and New Avengers, which has been brewing for a little while, and looks to be really good. This issue served as kind of a mirror image to New Avengers #18, which came out last week, and featured Norman assembling his new team of Dark Avengers. We know the players on both sides now, and sparks will fly. I mentioned earlier about how some people are disgruntled with the Avengers, and Norman as a villain represents this, he used to be in charge, and he did have support, he's not viewed as an out-and-out villain by the general public, and this makes him a real threat. When he says he was incarcerated without charge, he's telling the truth, and he represents a true challenge to the status quo the Avengers represent, he's more than just a goblin.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable issue, and one which sets up a storyline I'm very much looking forward to. I did everything an 'Old Order Changeth' issue should do, and still found room for a little surprise or two.

Art - Daniel Acuna, like Brian Bendis, is a bit of a 'love it or hate it' kind of a guy, I personally am a big fan of his art, and feel he improves as a creator with every new book he draws. His style is perfect for both the talky scenes Bendis loves, and also the action scenes, and his facial expressions are dynamite. I know some will moan about it, but he's a worthy artist for Marvel's flagship book.

Story - One of the staples of the Avengers throughout it's 500+ issue history is the 'old order changeth' stories, wherein an old line-up leaves, and Captain America (sometimes it's Iron Man or somebody else, but most of the time it's Cap) forms a new team. Avengers #19 is one of those stories, and it delivers what it sets out to, but with a few interesting twists.

This issue is of course written by Brian Michael Bendis, and at this point, when the man has been writing Avengers titles of varying titles for like 8 years or so, we all already know where we stand on him and his take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I love it, so I enjoyed this issue like I do almost all of his others, the dialogue was strong, and the character's believable. I also liked how Bendis is referring to a running sub-theme of his Avengers stories, that perhaps the Avengers aren't all that beneficial to the world, and there's a growing number of people in the general public of the Marvel Universe, and the way Bendis depicts the media in this issue shows that, as does the last-page appearance of a certain Spider-Man villain.

This issue is mainly a series of vignettes as Cap recruits his new team-members, and it all flows as you'd expect, apart from the surprise that Black Panther, who's on the cover of this very issue, chooses not to join the team, and instead, his wife Storm does. I'm a little conflicted about this, as although I'm not a big fan of Storm as a character, I have a soft-spot for husband and wife members of super-teams. Giant-Man and Wasp, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, Black Canary and Green Arrow, even Ralph and Sue Dibny, so I was annoyed that we wouldn't be getting a regular dose of wedded Wakandan bliss. But it is cool that Bendis chose to add a character who's never been an Avenger before, instead of a relative mainstay like Black Panther. It will also be interesting to see how Storm works with Wolverine. They are on opposite sides of the ideological split amongst the X-Men, but can they put aside their differences as Avengers?

The other team member who joins is The Vision, and I'm talking old-school Vision. I'm a big fan of Vizh, so I'm glad to have him back, but it does raise questions about the status of the Vision who's a member of the Young Avengers. I guess he'll probably die in the remaining issues of Children's Crusade, but you never know.

So the new Avengers line-up is formed, and the meet the media, well, not just the media, but also Norman Osborn, who shows up in the last panel to challenge the Avengers and set up the crossover between this title and New Avengers, which has been brewing for a little while, and looks to be really good. This issue served as kind of a mirror image to New Avengers #18, which came out last week, and featured Norman assembling his new team of Dark Avengers. We know the players on both sides now, and sparks will fly. I mentioned earlier about how some people are disgruntled with the Avengers, and Norman as a villain represents this, he used to be in charge, and he did have support, he's not viewed as an out-and-out villain by the general public, and this makes him a real threat. When he says he was incarcerated without charge, he's telling the truth, and he represents a true challenge to the status quo the Avengers represent, he's more than just a goblin.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable issue, and one which sets up a storyline I'm very much looking forward to. I did everything an 'Old Order Changeth' issue should do, and still found room for a little surprise or two.

Art - Daniel Acuna, like Brian Bendis, is a bit of a 'love it or hate it' kind of a guy, I personally am a big fan of his art, and feel he improves as a creator with every new book he draws. His style is perfect for both the talky scenes Bendis loves, and also the action scenes, and his facial expressions are dynamite. I know some will moan about it, but he's a worthy artist for Marvel's flagship book.

Wrasslin' Fan

At first it was a bit confusing as I didn't know if this would be like the Avengers/New Avengers setup, having two titles at once. Things started out promisingly as right on page one there was a competent review of the title.

However things slowly spun out of control as the old tropes that dominated Review Group started to show its ugly head. Things steered back on page 3 but by the time it hit page 9, it became near unreadable. The biggest flaw being the total mischaracterization of Stephen Day. I mean "FUCK"? Come on, he would never talk that way.

So it was a pretty mixed bag for this first issue. I'd say I'd be back for issue #2, but (1) it's a review for Infinite and (2) I'll probably be asked not to return like in the original review group.

At first it was a bit confusing as I didn't know if this would be like the Avengers/New Avengers setup, having two titles at once. Things started out promisingly as right on page one there was a competent review of the title.

However things slowly spun out of control as the old tropes that dominated Review Group started to show its ugly head. Things steered back on page 3 but by the time it hit page 9, it became near unreadable. The biggest flaw being the total mischaracterization of Stephen Day. I mean "FUCK"? Come on, he would never talk that way.

So it was a pretty mixed bag for this first issue. I'd say I'd be back for issue #2, but (1) it's a review for Infinite and (2) I'll probably be asked not to return like in the original review group.